Clark County schools cut more than 550 jobs to erase deficit

The deficit, which required the district’s more than 300 schools to cut a collective $47 million from their budgets, reduced the district’s workforce by 400 licensed positions, 104 support staff positions and 50.5 administrative jobs.

Clark County School District administration building at 5100 W. Sahara Ave. in Las Vegas (Richard Brian/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

The Clark County School District’s $68 million deficit forced it to eliminate more than 560 school positions, although fewer than 25 employees have not yet been reassigned to a position, the district announced Tuesday.

The deficit, which required the district’s more than 300 schools to cut a collective $47 million from their budgets, reduced the district’s workforce by 398 licensed positions, 102 support staff positions and 50.5 administrative jobs. District representatives said the total of 550.5 eliminated positions as of Friday could continue to change slightly.

Central services departments — including the curriculum and professional development division and equity and diversity department — cut budgets by about $15.5 million.

The cuts were part of the 2018-19 budget that the School Board approved in May.

Coronado High School cut the most, $623,295 based on figures the district provided so far, with Rancho and Clark high schools trailing with cuts of $582,296 and $582,111, respectively.

Lundy Elementary cut the least, $1,718, followed by Reid Elementary at $2,908 and Goodsprings Elementary at $3,173.

The most common reductions included those in licensed personnel — 260 schools cut in that area. Supply budgets were also reduced at 218 schools, while 82 reduced support staff positions.

The job losses triggered a surplus process for employees, a procedure in which they can try to find open positions elsewhere in the district based on several of factors. Employees with more seniority may be able to bump other employees out of a job for which they’re qualified, thus sending the other employee searching for a job elsewhere.

But the district says only a few employees are still waiting to be given a new job, with fewer than five teachers and fewer than 20 support staff waiting to be reassigned. Meanwhile, all administrators were successfully reassigned.

A district spokesman said the goal is for everyone to be placed in a new position based on their qualifications, but there is no guarantee that will happen.

“We are heartened that we were able to reassign almost all employees affected by this reduction to open positions created by retirements and other openings,” Chief Human Resources Officer Andre Long said in the release.

Despite the cuts, the district said it is still in need of teachers to fill its nearly 800 open classroom positions.

A previous version of this article contained errors on the total number of positions cut and cutbacks at the Nevada Learning Academy. Budget figures were provided by the district and were updated in following days to correct discrepancies in the initial report.